"Come, we must not waste the precious time that eludes us already." The fourth reincarnation of Amarantha said.
"Carmentha," Anahita spoke up, barely a whisper, "how are we suppose to save Elementa? Only two of can access our...other forms." She said, hesitating on using the word "dragon". Probably due to what happened to her parents. Or what supposedly happened to them according to Tarka.
   "You'll stay here for a few months and train, working towards accessing and gaining a better understanding of your dragon souls." She said, looking at all of their reactions with her vigilant eyes, never straying from any of their faces.
None of them responded to Carmentha's words.
"If there are no questions, let us be off. There are many important matters to discuss and time is no longer on our side." Carmentha said, leading the way to the large tree shooting out of the ground, disappearing into the thick canopy of other trees surrounding it; there were four rings of trees around the giant one.
   As they followed her, Orestes suddenly stopped, looking back at Melia, his bronze eyes filled with almost what looked like loneliness.
   Ignatius followed his gaze to see it settle on Melia as she started to leave them.
   "Isn't Melia going to join us?" Orestes asked Carmentha, making them all, including Melia, stop to hear the seeress's answer.
   Carmentha looked back at Orestes, her gaze flicking between him and Melia.
   "That is Melia's decision if she wants to get involved more that what she already was."
   Melia had turned around to face them to give her answer.
   "I have already fulfilled my task, Lady Carmentha. I am no longer needed and serve no purpose being with them." Melia answered emotionlessly as if she had been practicing this.
   Gears turned in Ignatius's mind as he wondered how he was going to protect Melia like Acacias wanted if she was no longer with them. Did she die by joining them? Or would she be safer away from them? He didn't know.
Maybe you should keep her close to make sure nothing does happen to her and to keep your promise to that Greeny. Sólskin proposed.
I could, but I don't know if this is what would get her killed. There's too many possibilities.
   Well she could die with the four of you where you can try and save her. Or she can die somewhere alone without you there to try and prevent it. So I would say it would better to have her by your side to at least be there to stop this Fire Lander from killing her. And if you fail, you at least have an excuse.
   Ignatius thought over Sólskin's words. It would be easier if he actually knew where Melia was instead of trying to figure it out on his own and not be a stalker to make sure she didn't die without him knowing about it or having the chance to try and save her. It would be his best option.
   "I believe Ignatius and his dragon soul have already made their choice." Carmentha's clear voice sliced through the silence that had surrounded him during his talk with Sólskin.
   He came back to reality with everyone looking at him like his hair was on fire.
   "I guess Ignatius wants you to stay too." Orestes said, looking at Melia with a grin on his face.
   Anahita nodded along with Orestes's words.
   Zephyr remained neutral through the whole decision, clearing not caring if Melia left or joined them.
   "If you all want me to stay, then I will." Melia told them with a swift dip of her head in acknowledgment.
   "Very well. Melia will be a guidance, teacher, and comrade for you all to turn to in the coming few precious months we have before we start our resistance against the Human Kingdoms in a peaceful manner, hopefully not having to result to all out war with their stubbornness." Carmentha said.
   With her words said and Melia rejoining their group, they all went over to the titanic tree Carmentha had already started to lead them towards.
   The earth rumbled gently beneath their feet as a stone staircase spiraled up out of the ground and wrapped itself around the gargantuan tree, disappearing into its thick canopy, surprising them all at the sudden display of extraordinary magic.
   Most mages in Elementa had control over one to three of the primary elements, never all four; only the reincarnated goddess could control all four. It was rare that a mage could unlock a secondary element of one of the primary four; it was unknown if the goddess could control the secondary elements as well. A mage's elemental control was determined by their personality. Elidi could control fire, reflecting her passionate nature and friendship with him and Hakan.
   Carmentha unhesitatingly went up her own earth crafted stairs, heading to the thick, hidden canopy above.
   Melia didn't hesitate to follow her leader/goddess.
   The rest of them were soon to follow.
   The air started to smell overwhelmingly like vegetation and pollen that all seemed foreign to Ignatius.
   In Et ignis in Terris there wasn't much vegetation in the harsh, burning climate and in addition to the nearly sterile soil. Over three fourths of the kingdom's food was grown in the Northwestern Fields where it was cool enough but not enough so to cause the crops to die of frostbite from the bordering mountains of Montes, et impenetrabilia.
After a few more minutes, Carmentha arrived at a large hole in the tree trunk, indicating that they were still far from the canopy part of the tree, unlike he thought before.
The reincarnated goddess walked over to the hole in a clam manner as if they had all the time in the world in contrast to what she was saying earlier about them not having enough time.
As they joined her in the hole, they took seats in a circle with her so they could begin their instructions from the goddess.
"Now I'm sure you all are full of questions, so we'll begin with them and then move onto the more important things. But right now is the time to ask me any question you would like."
Ignatius saw Anahita and Orestes share a confused and nervous look at her words.
You should ask her about your first transformation and if she did indeed help you through it. Sólskin told him.
I don't think that's a good idea. Ignatius countered. He really didn't think it would be the best idea to assume that Carmentha—she did sound like the voice—did help him through his first transformation.
Why not? You might finally get the answers to why she helped you other than the obvious one that you are important to her vision of us saving Elementa. She could have let you suffer through it but she didn't. Doesn't that make you want to know why? It does for me. Sólskin continued, incising him too. He wanted to know why she helped him other than her vision of him and the others saving Elementa.
Fine. I'll ask her later. Not now though. There are other important answers most likely to be asked.
Okay. Sólskin conceded to his decision.
"I still don't understand why it has to be us four specifically." Anahita said. "We're just a bunch of random people with no special purpose."
"Speak for yourself." Orestes said. "You're the princess of portus maris."
   Ignatius could have sworn he saw a glimmer of hate in his bronzed colored eyes. That seemed so unlike Orestes to hate someone like Anahita. Unless, it was her title that he hated. It occurred to him that Orestes had trouble with authority and royalty figures. That seemed pretty interesting to him.
"A princess, and second in line for the throne which I have no interest in." Anahita said back in a semi-irritated way like she hated being thought of as the crown princess of portus maris when it was her sister Cordelia.
   "Well sorry, Your Highness." Orestes said back in a mocking way earning an eye roll in annoyance from Anahita.
   Ignatius didn't even know Anahita could act like that. It seemed very unlike her. It made him wonder how she really acted around her family and friends. Close friends.
   "Please enough fighting." Carmentha said, her calm voice sweeping over all of them in waves of peace, calming them all down.
   Ignatius couldn't even remember the last time he felt this calm and unworried. He couldn't even hear Sólskin. This was the second time he had been blessed by the silence of his own thoughts.
   He still remembered the first time vaguely. Soft words, warm lips, silky hair. That longing deep down to find her was still where he left it.
   Then as soon as the calmness came it went, leaving him with all his worried once more.
   Did you miss me? Sólskin asked.
   Ignatius didn't respond, too busy trying to grasp onto the fading memory of the mysterious woman that made him feel free to be himself without worrying about what others might think of him.
   Stop thinking about her for once. She's gone now, and I say good riddance. She was nothing but trouble to begin with.
No she wasn't! Ignatius snapped. She was kind to me. Kinder than anyone I had ever known.
   Ignatius, you're letting her fill your head with lies. We both know Elidi, Hakan, and Anahita were kinder and not even secretive like her. You barley know her.
So? She's actually like me and knows how this whole dragon stuff works. If I find her she can help me, instead of waiting on a grumpy lizard like you and this incredibly slow so called goddess going on about something absolutely stupid. Ignatius ranted in annoyance that Sólskin wouldn't give her a chance when she was so kind to him. She was a Fire Drekablóð like him. She could help him learn to control everything about him so that he would never go into a fit of rage again like he did the two times that resulted in the death of an Et ignis in Terris guard and...Ignacio.
   Sólskin went dead quite.
   While Sólskin was in his moment of silence, he drifted back into the conversation going on between Carmentha and the others.
"...everyone here, myself included, will do everything we can to prepare you all for the upcoming battle with the Human Kingdoms. We'll try to have all of you able to and have control and understanding with your dragons souls to where you both nearly act as one. We will have to work on your elemental abilities as well. Some battle training couldn't hurt either." Carmentha said, her amethyst eyes flicking between the four of them, resting on Ignatius a couple seconds longer than anyone else.
A shiver ran down his spine as a wave of magic from this beautiful being before him rushed through him, not enough to hurt him, just enough to warn him about something. He had hunch but he didn't dwell on it, clearing his mind of such thoughts to keep her from reading his mind; he had no idea if she even could.
"That will be all for today. Melia will show you all will be staying. We start training tomorrow." Carmentha dismissed them, staying where she sat as Melia and the rest of them got up.
   Sit, Ignatius. We have much to talk about. A voice echoed in his mind. The Voice from his first transformation.
He turned to look at her, her bright, unnatural amethyst eyes trained solely on him.
Ignatius glanced at Melia to find her herding the others out, leaving him alone with the reincarnated goddess of Amarantha.
"I mean it, Ignatius. We have things to talk about that could not be spoken of with the others around, and one of those matters have to do with the Fire Drekablóð you seem to fancy so much." She said, the last part stunning.
   Fuck! She could read minds! He screamed in his mind at the revelation.
I would appreciate it if you didn't use such foul language around me, Ignatius. She said once more in his mind.
I would do as she says. Sólskin suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
   Where the Hell have you been? He asked, vexed that Sólskin had decided to stay silent for so long and clearly knew this had been coming.
   None of your business. Now do as she says or else. Sólskin threatened.
He was about to challenge him back when he remembered the last time they got into a fight which involved shifting bones in his hand and slapping himself across the face.
   Ignatius begrudgingly sat down across from the goddess reincarnate, waiting for her to speak whatever she was going to say.
   They sat there for a few minutes in silence. Silence that was slowly killing him.
   Finally Carmentha spoke.
   "It is from my understanding Ignatius that you have had a run-in with one of Cyra's close associates, Pyrrha." Carmentha said slowly, watching him for any reactions.
   At least he now knew who the woman was. But there was that name Cyra again. He didn't know who she was but Rhys and Carmentha apparently both knew her and he had a bad feeling she wasn't the good kind of person to know.
   "Ya, so. What about it?" He said nonchalantly.
That was rude! Apologize right now! Sólskin scolded him.
No. He refused. There was no reason to and she didn't seem offended. So what was the point.
   Sólskin was about to argue his point when Carmentha continued.
   "I want you stay away from her. Cyra is clearly trying to sway you to her side through... seductive means. I don't know why she wants you so badly, but I know it's not for any good reason. So stay away from Pyrrha."
   "Have you ever tried talking to this Cyra or Pyrrha? Maybe they aren't as bad as you think them to be.
   Carmentha simply just shook her head.
   "You children these days are so naive, thinking everyone is purely good or everyone corruptively evil when everyone has both dark and light in them, one side leaning more to other. Well Cyra is one of those many people who chose to embrace the darkest parts of herself, using her anger and rage to kill innocent humans for something their ancestors did five hundred years ago. She is the very reason things have become more hostile in Elementa due to her gathering forces preparing to go to war with humans."
"I don't understand. If you want to go war with humans, why no join her if she already has an army gathering?"
"Because Cyra seeks to destroy all humans and anyone who gets in her way at restoring Drekablóð back to the top of the hierarchy. I mean to start out our fight peacefully, trying to convince humans that we can live together in peace before resulting to violence that doesn't kill every single human in Elementa." Carmentha finished.
Well Ignatius knew who Cyra was now. A Drekablóð Hellbent on returning Drekablóð back to the top. A deadly Drekablóð that would kill anyone or anything that got in her way. The very thought of her bloodlust made him shudder.
"I see you understand why I refuse to join her or even condole her actions that are immoral. She is a threat to Elementa herself. Which is why we must make peace with the humans first and then work on subduing Cyra and her followers, convincing them that violence and bloodshed is no always the answer. So, do understand now why I want you stay away from Pyrrha?"
He nodded, hardly believing that someone as kind as Pyrrha could be aligned with someone so horrible and despicable.
"Good."
"You're the one who helped me through my first transformation, aren't you?" He blurted out without much thought of where the conversation would take them.
"Yes, I am." She answered without hesitation.
"Why?"
   "Because you were suffering and needed help."
   "There has to be more to it than that. And don't say it's because of me all chosen and whatever nonsense." He prodded.
   Carmentha held his gaze for a few unsettling and dead quite minutes before she finally gave him an answer.
   "It's because your father asked me to watch out for you." She answered shocking him. 
   His..father...Ignacio? No! He didn't care an ounce about Ignatius. He clearly showed that through all the various times he beaten Ignatius to near death. Ignacio couldn't be, he wasn't his father.
   "I see you have come to the realization that Ignacio was never your birth father." Carmentha said, a sadness creeping into her brilliant amethyst eyes.
   "Who—who is he?" Ignatius whispered, his voice barely audible.
   "I don't know." The seeress replied. "I never even saw him. He only sent me a letter with no name listed nor your mother's. He simply asked that I look out for a young Fire Drekablóð just born. And I did as he requested. I never heard from him again. Chances are he's dead. I'm sorry Ignatius. I truly am."
   Sorrow came crashing down on him like a flood, chilling him all over till he felt like a dead person. His father was dead and his mother most likely. His birth family was dead. His adoptive family might as well be dead as well; Ignacio's wife was the only one who cared about him.
Sorry for your loss, Ignatius. I know this is hard and that it isn't necessarily the same for me to tell you I feel your pain.
   Thank you anyways, Sólskin. I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier.
   You are forgiven.
   While Ignatius sat in his own silent mourning with Sólskin, he didn't even become aware of someone else standing next to Carmentha till her gentle voice washed over him like a bucket of cold mountain water.
   "Ignatius, Lunara is going to show you where you'll be staying."
   Ignatius looked up to see a mere child of six years of age, a wary look in her honey eyes. Her pale skin gleamed like platinum in the trickling sunlight filtering through the thick canopy and into the tree hole. She tucked a strand of her vibrant rose red hair behind her ear.
   Lunara looked at Carmentha, quickly muttering something in another language, the dragon language he assumed; she most likely was Drekablóð.
   She's wondering if you are a Fire Drekablóð. Sólskin translated. Forest Dragons don't necessarily trust us due to are..."destructive behaviors" as those Greenies and Tree Huggers put it. They don't like the destruction of their precious plants.
   I don't go around burning up their plants, at least not on purpose.
   That's not how they see it.
   Well sorry.
   Don't tell me sorry. Save it for the one that tries to spear you with a branch. Sólskin said, chuckling at the end.
You'll die too, dumbass.
Not as soon as you. Sólskin replied, still chuckling slightly at the prospect of some Forest Dragon or Drekablóð trying to kill him. Sometimes he wondered what went on in that dragon soul's head.
   "Lunara will take you to your quarters. Please listen to her, Ignatius. I know how...stubborn you can be and I don't want you taking it out on Lunara, so be kind of her." Carmentha warned in a polite manner, but he got the message all to clearly. Hurt Lunara in anyway and he would face her punishment. It was a punishment that would make Ignacio's seem childish compared to what she could do to him with a single thought or wave of her hand.
   Ignatius inclined his head in acceptance, striving to follow her words and not hurt Lunara in any way, not that he would hurt an innocent child to begin with. It would make him feel too much like Ignacio—Ignacio who was his adoptive father.
   This sudden prospect of not being Ignacio's son filled him with joy but at the same time made him wonder what his birth father was like and if he was better or worse than Ignacio. It seemed like he was better then Ignacio if he asked Carmentha to look out for him. But that still didn't change the fact that he had no idea what his birth father was like, if he was even still alive.
We'll find him after all of this over, I promise this to you, Ignatius. You deserve some closure of what happened to him and your dam.
   Ignatius acknowledged what he said, thankful for Sólskin's support.
   "Are you coming?" The little girl asked, waiting for him on the lip of the hole, watching carefully with her honey colored eyes.
   "Yes," he replied, getting up to follow her.
   As he left the hole he could feel Carmentha's purple eyed gaze searing into his back.
Don't forget what we talked about today. Her words echoed in his mind as he left the reincarnated goddess alone in the tree hole.
   Ignatius followed the girl along the thick branches of the weaving canopy towering about them, painting them in pale green light.
   Only silence filled the time as they walked wherever his quarters provided by Carmentha were at.
   After a few minutes Lunara stopped at the base of a random tree branch to his confusion. She knelt down, grabbing ahold of a small branch growing from the branch. Pulling the small branch with her as she stood up, she revealed a small bunker of sorts hidden inside of the hollowed tree branch.
   Ignatius could only stare in bewilderment. This was something he was no use to and Lunara knew it too.
   "It's just a branch. So stop staring at it like it's going to eat you."
   "Sorry," he muttered to her.
   "Well, goodbye. I have to go home." She excused herself abruptly, leaving him alone to come to terms with how this bunker-room thing even existed when Forest Dragons and Drekablóð hated the abuse of trees.
Oh just climb into the hole. It's getting late and I for one want to sleep tonight. Sólskin said.
Fine. He responded, climbing down into the hollow tree branch, not even bothering to close the hatch without knowing if he can open it from this side. He would prefer not being stuck in here.
Just shut the stupid thing. I'm tired as it is. I want to get enough sleep to where if anything stupid happens tomorrow I won't be grumpy enough to burn the causer to ash. Sólskin growled, warning that if he didn't get the sleep he needed then someone would most likely burn tomorrow with or without his consent.
   Closing the hatch to envelope them in darkness, he found that once it became dark, something started glowing on the bottom of the hatch.
   Ignatius stared at it in befuddlement, hesitantly running his hand through something soft and plant feeling.
Bioluminescence moss, I think. Sólskin answers the rising questions gathering in Ignatius's mind.
   He couldn't help but feel a little amazed at the glowing moss and how these bunkers were conveniently made to hide right in plain sight.
This is actually kind of amazing. Ignatius breathed to Sólskin, running hand across the unnaturally smooth wood.
Yes, yes it is. Now can we please go to sleep?
   Okay, fine. Ignatius told him, finding the bed at the end of easily twenty foot long and ten foot wide hollow tree branch-bunker.
   He sank down on the bed, finding it to be made of some sort of piled up vegetation. There was no blanket, not that he needed one with the heat of the inside of the branch and the heat of this entire underground forest.
   He actually didn't realize how tired he was. Before he knew it, he was already off into this peacefulness of blessed darkness and sleep.

P.S. I'll explain more about the hollow branch rooms in the next chapter.
When I say passionate for Elidi I mean she watches out for her friends and doesn't like it when they get hurt.
I think I mentioned the meaning of dam in a previous chapter, but I'm just going to mention it again. It means mother in biology and zoology terms.
   I'm also thinking about writing a collection of short stories about Zephyr, Anahita, Ignatius, and Orestes's parents and how they all met. It would most likely be after this arc(I have two planned arcs for this series so far with a third possible one).